title: Enhanced Chemokine Receptor Expression on Leukocytes of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: Although primarily a neurological complaint, systemic inflammation is present in Alzheimer's Disease, with higher than normal levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the periphery as well as the brain. A gradient of these factors may enhance recruitment of activated immune cells into the brain via chemotaxis. Here, we investigated the phenotypes of circulating immune cells in AD patients with multi-colour flow cytometry to determine whether their expression of chemokine receptors is consistent with this hypothesis. In this study, we confirmed our previously reported data on the shift of early- to late-differentiated CD4+ T-cells in AD patients. The percentage of cells expressing CD25, a marker of acute T-cell activation, was higher in patients than in age-matched controls, and percentages of CCR6+ cells were elevated. This chemokine receptor is primarily expressed on pro-inflammatory memory cells and Th17 cells. The proportion of cells expressing CCR4 (expressed on Th2 cells) and CCR5 (Th1 cells and dendritic cells) was also greater in patients, and was more pronounced on CD4+ than CD8+ T-cells. These findings allow a more detailed insight into the systemic immune status of patients with Alzheimer's disease and suggest possible novel targets for immune therapy.
authors.affiliation: Tübingen Ageing and Tumour Immunology Group, Center for Medical Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldeck
authors.forename: Anis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Larbi
authors.forename: Mariavaleria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellicanó
authors.forename: Iftikhar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zerr
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pawelec
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000276:immunology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine